Content placeholder markers are an electronically-implemented process for storing a time location within a content stream. In some situations, users may wish to mark a particular time point within a content stream, such as a television broadcast. In conventional systems, this mark may comprise a pause request resulting in a recording device beginning to record the content stream beginning from the time the user issued the request. This may be impossible if the device being used to process the content stream, such as a cable box, does not have a memory storage for recording the stream or is not configured to record the content stream.